Today’s “money story” is a guest post from Bob Clyatt, author of the outstanding Work Less, Live More, which is one of my favorite books about financial independence and early retirement. [My review.] It’s an update on what his life has been like since moving to sem-retirement fifteen years ago.

I had the good fortune to start a digital design firm in 1994. I sold it during the dot-com frenzy, leaving me with a bad case of burnout and full retirement accounts. It seemed like the right time to pull the plug, so in 2001 — at the age of 42 — I left full-time work.

I embarked on a self-funded post-career lifestyle that wasn’t quite retirement (at least not in the traditional sense). I chose to do part-time, work-like activity in order to stay challenged and engaged while also closing budget gaps. Five years later, I wrote Work Less, Live More, which popularized the notion of semi-retirement.

So, I guess the big question is: Does semi-retirement work? What has it been like for me and my family? What lessons have I learned since embarking upon this path?

The Way to Semi-Retirement

The quick answer is: Yes, semi-retirement can and does work. The investing approach outlined in Work Less, Live More has sustained our spending since the day my wife and I quit work in early 2001. Our savings have allowed us to have part-time, low-paid (but intrinsically fun and meaningful jobs) at a time when the normal people in those jobs can’t actually make ends meet — and can’t enjoy them as a result.

My wife works ten or twenty hours a week in a large specialty women’s clothing store. Her job allows her to stay connected to her interests in fashion while spending time with a younger generation of women: her co-workers and managers.

Meanwhile, I got to pursue my dream of becoming an artist. I went to art school, then built a sculpture studio. I now show and sell my work everywhere from Hong Kong to Paris, from trendy art fairs in Miami to galleries in Manhattan. [Check out Clyatt’s contemporary sculpture at his website.]

I’ve certainly had fifteen-hour days and eight-hour weeks in semi-retirement, but mostly I putter around in the morning before going to my studio after lunch. I spend an active afternoon sculpting. At night, I’m parked on the couch just like the rest of the country.

Like all artists, I sigh that I don’t have as many sales as I’d hoped after an art fair or gallery show. But then I pinch myself and remember that the art itself is getting better. I remind myself that creating the art is deeply meaningful and our financial needs are still covered by our savings. [Read more…]

In this week’s installment of Get Rich Slowly Theater, we’re going to look at a real-life money boss: Earl Crawley, a parking attendant from Baltimore. Mr. Earl (as he’s known) was profiled on the PBS show MoneyTrack. Here’s a six-minute segment about this super saver:

Mr. Earl has worked as a parking attendant for 44 years — at the same parking lot! He’s never made more than $12 per hour. He’s never earned more than $20,000 in a year, yet he has a net worth over half a million dollars.

Like many successful folks, Earl started working when he was young. At age 13, he got a job at a produce market to help pay the family bills. His mother took most of his income to help make ends meet, leaving her son with just a few cents out of every dollar. This forced saving plan was the start of a life-long habit.

Mr. Earl says he was a slow learner. He wasn’t very good in school. He had dyslexia, so reading was a struggle. Growing up in the 1950s, there weren’t a lot of opportunities for people in situations like his. He knew he was destined for a lifetime of low-wage jobs, so he decided he’d better save what little he earned.

He and his wife raised three children — and sent them to Catholic school instead of public school — despite their meager budget. (Mr. Earl took extra jobs in order to pay tuition.) Meanwhile, he started investing.

Mr. Earl’s investing habit started small. At first, he put his money into savings stamps and savings bonds. He saved what might have seemed like meaningless amounts to other people, starting with pennies and moving up to dollars. For fifteen years, he invested $25 each month into a mutual fund. His balance grew. By the end of the 1970s, his net worth was $25,000.

Eventually, Mr. Earl decided he wanted to “play the stock market” himself. He began buying shares in Blue Chip companies like IBM and Caterpillar and Coca-Cola. He bought just a share or two at a time, but that was enough. (His first purchase was a single share of IBM in 1981.) His secret?

“Instead of taking the dividends and pocketing it, I let it set — or let it reinvest itself — and increase my shares. The more shares I had, the more dividends I had. And eventually, the more money I had down the road.”

How did Earl become so savvy with money? It’s not just because of habits he developed when he was young. You see, his parking lot is in the middle of a financial district. Over time, he picked the brains of the folks who passed his way. He picked up tips on how to save and invest.

“I talked to everybody and listened to the advice everybody gave me,” he says. Because he had trouble reading, he made a point of listening.

Today, Mr. Earl’s stock portfolio is worth more than $500,000. He owns his home free and clear. He has no debt.

Mr. Earl is a prime example of a money boss. He made the most of the cards life dealt him. He found a way to turn a losing hand into a winner. And now he’s paying it forward, teaching others how to save and invest.

So much of financial success involves good habits practiced over long periods of time.

Yes, you can still have a positive impact on your financial future if you’re starting late in life — but if you’re 59 years old and just beginning to think about financial freedom, you have a lot of work to do.

But if you’re 19, you have an extra forty years to set yourself up for financial success. This extra time makes a ginormous difference!

A lot of this is due to the magic of compounding. Over the short term, your investment returns don’t help a whole bunch. But over the long term? Over decades? Wow! Compounding can help you create a truly impressive wealth snowball.

I once received email from a reader named Anders who testified the power of compounding:

I used to save money in funds without knowing more than it gave a better interest than ordinary savings accounts. Then a few years ago I came across a book that explained compound interest and showed graphs of how it works. I was blown away by the idea!

I think, for me, that was the biggest impact on my way of thinking about savings and it got me more interested in the stock market too. So in my opinion, the things people who don’t know too much about savings/investing need to hear is about how compound interest works and how the stock market works.

We’ll leave “how the stock market works” for another day. (If you want to know more right now, check out my articles on stock market returns and how to invest.) Today I want to look at why some folks consider compounding to be the most powerful force in the universe.

The Power of Compounding

On its surface, compounding is innocuous — even boring. How much does it matter if you start saving now? Will it really affect what you can spend in the future?

To illustrate the power of compounding, I spent far too much time playing with spreadsheets. (Seriously. Kim managed to get like three major projects done in the time it took me to generate the following numbers and graphs. But I had more fun.)

Note: All of the numbers that follow are based on certain assumptions. For each of the three asset classes — stocks, bonds, gold — I’m using the long-term average real return: 6.8% for stocks, 2.4% for bonds, and 1.2% for gold. That’s what these investments return over decades (not year to year) after accounting for inflation. However, it’s very important to undertand that average is not normal. Returns can (and do) vary widely from year to year.

First up, here’s a basic look at compounding in action. This table assumes you invested one dollar into each of stocks, bonds, and gold. Based on historical averages, I’ve calculated how much your dollar would have grown to at the end of each year for fifty years:

As you can see, compounding doesn’t really do much during the first few years. After a decade, your $1.00 would nearly double if invested in stocks. (Remember, this is inflation-adjusted. The nominal number would be greater. But this is what your dollar would be worth.) If invested in bonds, that $1.00 would grow to $1.27. And if you invested in gold? That $1.00 would grow to $1.13. (For the record, my research shows that real estate offers long-term returns similar to gold. Others say real estate returns are worse than gold.)

The longer your money remains invested, however, the more powerful compounding becomes. After ten years, your $1.00 in stocks grew to nearly $2.00. Afters sixteen years, it will grow to nearly $3.00. In 20 years, it’ll grow to nearly $4.00. In 24 years, it’ll be worth more than $5.00. From there, the growth becomes even more rapid. By year 40 — which, yes, is a very long time — you’re earning more than a dollar every year. [Read more…]

You already know profit is the lifeblood of every business. It’s like food and water for the human body. Although proper nutrition isn’t the purpose of life, we couldn’t exist without it. Food and water give us strength to do the stuff that matters most. So too, profit isn’t necessarily the purpose of business — but a company can’t survive without it.

Here’s a secret: People need profit too.

In personal finance, “profit” is typically called “savings”. That’s too bad. When people hear about savings, their eyes glaze over and their brains turn to mush. Bor-ing! But if you talk about profit instead, people get jazzed: “Of course, I want to earn a profit! Who wouldn’t?”

Profit is easy to calculate. It’s net income, the difference between what you earn and what you spend. You can compute your profit with this simple formula:

PROFIT = INCOME – EXPENSES

If you earned $4000 last month and spent $3000, you had a profit of $1000. If you earned $4000 and spent $4500, you had a loss of $500.

There are only two ways a business can boost profits, and there are only two ways you can boost personal profitability:

Spend less. A business can increase profits by slashing overhead: finding new suppliers, renting cheaper office space, laying off employees. You can increase your personal profit by spending less on groceries, cutting cable television, or refinancing your mortgage.

Earn more. To generate increased revenue, a business might develop new products or find new ways to market its services. At home, you could make more by working overtime, taking a second job, or selling your motorcycle.

When you earn a profit, you don’t have to worry about how you’ll pay your bills. Profit lets you chip away at the chains of debt. Profit removes the wall of worry and grants you control of your life. Profit frees you to do work that you want instead of being trapped by a job you hate. When you make a profit, you truly become the boss of your own life.

I’m generally an even-keeled guy. I don’t get worked up about much. I understand that different people have different perspectives, so I try to be respectful when others disagree with me. Having said that, there are indeed certain things that piss me off.

So how much are you supposed to be saving in order to finance 20 to 30 years post-work? The commonly accepted rule of thumb is that you’ll want about 70% of your former annual income — at least — to continue living at or near the style to which you’ve been accustomed.

Let me be blunt: This rule of thumb is asinine.

This “rule” (which is used by most retirement calculators, both on the web and from financial planners) estimates how much money you’ll need by using your income as a starting point. The 70% ratio is commonly used, but plenty of places use 80% or 90%. Regardless the percentage, estimating your retirement spending from your current income is ludicrous. It’s like trying to guess how much fuel you’ll use on a trip to grandmother’s house based on the size of your vehicle’s gas tank!

Say you make $50,000 a year but spend $60,000. In this case, your income understates your lifestyle by $10,000 a year. If you based your retirement needs on your income, you’d be screwed.

On the other hand, if you’re a money boss who saves half what she earns, you’d only spend $25,000 of a $50,000 salary. Basing your retirement needs on your income would cause you to save much more than you need. You’d be working long after the point at which you could retire safely.

Predicting how much much to save for retirement based on income makes zero sense. (Zero!) It’s one of those pervasive financial rules of thumb — such as “buy as much home as you can afford” — that does more harm than good. There’s a real danger that if you heed this advice you won’t have enough saved in retirement. If you’re proactive like many Get Rich Slowly readers are, you run the risk of saving too much, meaning you’ll miss out on using money to enjoy life when you’re younger.

Instead of estimating how much to save for retirement based on your income, it makes far more sense to plan your retirement needs around your spending. Your spending reflects your lifestyle; your income doesn’t.

So, how much do you need to save for retirement? How much will you spend? It depends.

For many people, expenses drop when they stop working. They drive less. The kids are out of the house. The mortgage is gone. And, ironically, they no longer have to save for retirement. Meanwhile, other expenses increase. (Most notably, health care costs tend to balloon as we age.)

That said, it is possible to get a general idea of how much you’ll need in the future. According to the 2016 Retirement Confidence Survey: about 38% spend more in retirement than when they’re working. 21% spend less, and 38% spend the same. Past iterations of this survey have shown that roughly two-thirds of Americans spend the same (or only slightly different amounts) during retirement as they did while working.

Translation: In general, your pre-retirement expenses are an excellent predictor of your post-retirement expenses. That’s why I prefer this rule of thumb: When estimating how much you need to save for retirement, assume you’ll spend about as much in the future as you do now.

Forget the “70% of your income” bullshit when planning for retirement. Use 100% of your current expenses instead.

Footnote
When I originally published this article at Money Boss in July 2016, financial planner Michael Kitces — who has an awesome blog — sent me a note to explain why advisors use the “70% of your income” rule. The answer? “Because it works.”

Generally speaking, the 70% of income replacement ratio works because once you subtract taxes and work-related expenses (plus savings), it’s close to 100% of expenses in most cases. I still think this is a crazy way to come at it — why not just use 100% of expenses? — and that it’s completely off-base for folks with high saving rates. For more on this subject, check out Michael’s article in defense of the 70% replacement ratio.

In 1988’s Cashing In on the American Dream, Paul Terhorst wrote about retiring at age 35. Although his aim was to show readers the path to early retirement, he also sang the praises of temporary retirement — retiring young with the idea that you might go back to work later in life.

The Way to Semi-Retirement

In many ways, Work Less, Live More (published in 2005) reads like an updated (and more detailed) Cashing In on the American Dream. Even the author bios sound similar. Here’s how Clyatt describes his background:

In 2001, after 20 years of sustained high-pressure work, the last seven spent battling in the Internet wars, my wife Wonda and I chucked it in, mothballed our suits, rented a small summer house in Italy, and began our new lives as early retirees.

But early retirement was no paradise for Clyatt and his wife. They were stressed, and their friends were stressed too. Did he really have enough money saved? What about the sluggish stock market? He began to question his assumptions: Had he made a terrible mistake?

Ultimately, he realized the worst-case scenario wasn’t so bad. He probably did have enough to stashed away to sustain his early retirement, but even if he didn’t the downside was that he might have to do a little work. This realization allowed him to embrace the idea of semi-retirement.

“Doing some amount of engaging work offers a comfortable transition between full work mode and full retirement mode,” Clyatt writes. “With a modest income from part-time work, early semi-retirees may not have to face the dramatic downshifting in spending and lifestyle that so often confronts those who live only on savings or pensions.”

Here’s an extended explanation from the book:

Semi-retirement — reclaiming a proper balance between life and work by leaving a full-time job — offers a way out of the madness of overwork. By reducing spending and switching to a pared-back but more satisfying lifestyle, less money goes out the door.

Tapping into accumulated savings in a sensible way provides a steady annual income. Any shortfall can be filled with a modest amount of work, done in an entirely new state of mind: With less need to work for the largest paycheck possible, you can find low-stress work that you truly enjoy, on a schedule that gives you time to breathe.

Clyatt divides Work Less, Live More into eight chapters, each of which explores one of his rules for semi-retirement:

Figure out why you want to do this.

Live below your means.

Put your investing on autopilot.

Take 4% forever.

Stop worrying about taxes.

Do anything you want, but do something.

Don’t blow it.

Make your life matter.

Let’s take a closer look at the semi-retirement approach to creating work-life balance. [Read more…]

Here’s a new thing for me: Yesterday, I met with a friend to give her financial advice. Believe it or not, in the twelve years since I started Get Rich Slowly, nobody has ever asked me to sit down with them and review their budget and investments. Pamela is the first. (And because I forgot to ask her permission to share this info, for this article I am totally changing anything that might identify Pamela.)

I’ve known Pamela for almost six years. She cuts Kim’s hair, and sometimes she cuts mine. She knows I write about money, but I don’t think she’s ever read anything I’ve written.

Pamela is 41. She’s single. She owns her own business. She loves her work and she’s happy with her life, but she’s starting to think about the future. Is she saving enough? Will she have enough for retirement? What if she wants to buy a home? Is there anything about her budget that seems out of line? When she cut my hair last month, she asked if I’d be willing to sit down with her over coffee to look at her numbers.

“Sure,” I said. Yesterday, we spent ninety minutes going through her budget and her investment accounts. Because I feel like Pamela’s situation is very typical of the GRS audience, I want to talk about

Pamela’s Budget

Pamela doesn’t keep detailed records of her earning and spending. “Once a year, I take a month to log everything. I want to make sure I’m not out of control,” she told me. “I’m tracking my money this month, for instance. The numbers I have here are rough estimates.”

Pamela earns about $3940 per month cutting hair, or about $47,280 per year. Her business expenses — including taxes — run about $1100 per month. These are fixed, and nothing about them seems out of the ordinary to me. The remaining $2840 per month represents her “take-home pay”.

Of that, $650 goes toward rent. This is a really good number for Portland, and she knows it. She’s not happy with her roommate situation right now, but she finds it tough to move because her rent is so low. Anyplace else would probably cost at least $950 per month, and $1200 per month is probably more realistic. For now, she’s willing to put up with roommate issues in order to save $300 to $500 per month.

Pamela’s second-largest expense is food, which costs her $600 per month. “I could cut that if I had to,” she told me. “I like to eat well, and I know that costs me.”

Her other expenses — clothing, utilities, therapy, and so on — total about $900 per month. (I didn’t think to take detailed notes on Pamela’s situation because I didn’t realize I’d be writing about her.) So, her monthly expenses average $2150, which means she has a surplus of roughly $690. That’s awesome!

The bottom line: Pamela earns $3940 per month, or about $47,280 per year. Her expenses (including business expenses) total $3250 per month, or about $39,000 per year. Her saving rate is roughly 17.5% if you include the business expenses in the calculation, or roughly 24.3% if you don’t.

I think Pamela’s budget is entirely reasonable, but she could always choose to cut spending a little more.

Note: I want to tie this back to my criticism of the Frugalwoods book earlier this week. In my review, I noted that the author was able to achieve financial independence quickly not because her family’s spending was $37,000 per year, but because she and her husband have high incomes. Pamela’s spending is roughly the same as that of the Frugalwoods, but because her income is in the average-normal range, her saving rate is much lower. This is an example of why income is such a vital piece of the puzzle.

Pamela’s Investments

Of the $690 that Pamela sets aside each month, she routes $200 to an Edward Jones brokerage account. This account currently has a balance of just over $42,000 spread across nine different mutual funds. (Pamela really likes her Edward Jones financial advisor.) She also has $11,000 in a credit-union checking account, and another $3000 in miscellaneous investments.

Pamela’s advisor has invested her money in the following funds. (I didn’t write down fund balances. Sorry.)

Pamela also owns roughly twenty shares of Square Inc. (SQ), which she purchased because she uses and loves their technology in her business. Her $200 initial investment is now worth $800. Plus, she has about $1000 in the T. Rowe Price Science and Technology Fund (PRSCX), which has no load and an expense ratio of 0.83%. (This fund is in a Roth IRA.) These are investments she’s made on her own and they have nothing to do with her Edward Jones portfolio.

My initial thoughts on seeing Pamela’s portfolio? HOLY SHIT! I’m not joking. I can’t help but curse at this asset allocation. I cannot believe that in 2018 a financial advisor would have their client invested like this. It’s baffling.

What’s the issue? On average, Pamela’s $42,000 portfolio carries a staggering 5.31% front-end load and a 0.78% expense ratio. When she sends her $200 to invest each month, roughly $10.62 of that is going to initial fees, leaving her with $189.38 invested. Then, she’s losing at least another 0.50% (or $210) per year to expense ratios (when compared to index funds).

All told, Pamela is investing $2400 per year, but paying $337.44 to expenses. That’s 13.64% of what she’s putting in — not to mention any future earnings that money could have produced. That’s great for Edward Jones, but not for her.

Here’s another way to look at it (using a new metaphor I’m inventing for this article). It’s like Pamela and I are going to race one mile around a track. We know in advance that both of us average the same speed: about 6.8 miles per hour (or about 8:49 per mile). The race should be a close one. Or it would be, except that each of us is handicapped.

Pamela has to carry an extra 78 pounds (representing her average 0.78% expense ratio) and she has to start 280 feet behind me (about 5.31% of a mile).

Assuming we’re otherwise physically equal, who do you think is going to win this race? It doesn’t take a rocket surgeon to see that Pamela would have to expend Herculean effort to catch me. And the longer we run, the more the difference in the weights we’re carrying will begin to tell.

The bottom line: Pamela’s budget is great. Her investment portfolio is not. She’s losing a ton of money to “drag” each year — and each time she makes a monthly contribution to her portfolio.

My Evaluation

“I’ll be honest,” I told Pamela after reviewing her numbers. “I feel like you’re doing fine. You don’t have debt. You spend on the things that are important to you, but you’re not materialistic. You like your work. You don’t have a driving desire to retire early.”

“So, you wouldn’t change anything?” Pamela asked.

“Well, you could always spend less, right? You don’t need a smartphone. You don’t need to spend $600 on food every month. Plus, if you took on more clients, you could boost your income.”

“Right,” Pamela said.

“But again, based on what I know of you and your goals, you’re doing a great job of balancing tomorrow and today. If there were one change I’d make to how you’re handling money, it’d probably be to save more — and to change how you’re investing.”

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“You don’t want to make things too complicated,” I said, “but if I were you, I’d consider four buckets for savings. First, set aside an emergency fund. You already have $11,000 in a checking account. That’s perfect. But I’d also have a savings buckets for short-term goals like your new cell phone and for long-term goals like buying a house.”

“That makes sense,” she said. (I didn’t tell Pamela during our meeting, but if I were her, I’d use an online savings account to get better interest rates.)

“Your fourth bucket is for retirement. You’re off to a good start there, but you might consider saving even more. And really, I don’t like how your money is invested.” I spent five minutes explaining my philosophy of how to invest and describing why I prefer index funds to standard mutual funds.

It didn’t occur to me during our conversation, but in retrospect I think Pamela needs to be using tax-advantaged accounts to save for retirement, such as a Roth IRA and/or a 401(k). (The Roth IRA is probably the simplest thing to set up, so I’d recommend that.) Right now, she’s putting her money into a regular taxable account. When I next see her, I’m going to recommend that Pamela set a goal of maxing out her Roth IRA. That’d bump her retirement savings from $2400 to $5500 every year. I think that’s both smart and doable (even if it might seem like a bit of a stretch).

Overall, I think Pamela makes wise decisions, both with her business finances and with her personal finances. She’s smart and level-headed. And again, I feel like she typifies the average Get Rich Slowly reader — or at least where the average Get Rich Slowly is starting from. My hope is that with just a few tweaks, she can give her retirement savings a turbo boost!

When I write about retirement and retirement planning, I frequently mention that I aim for my savings and investments to last another thirty years. So, for instance, when I use retirement calculators to determine how long my nest egg will last, I use 78 as my projected age of death. Several readers have written to ask how I arrived at this number.

For example, Richard wrote:

I’m wondering why you’re only projecting out 30 years. You’re only 48. I’m 54 (and retired) and, in my projections and calculations, I go out 40 years. I probably don’t need to plan out that far, but you never know. My last surviving grandparent died just a couple years ago at age 99.

This is a great question. In fact, I believe life expectancy is the most critical factor in determining how much money you need to save — and how much you can spend. Unfortunately, it’s also the variable that’s most difficult to calculate with any kind of precision.

Why Is Life Expectancy So Important?

When the mainstream media publishes an article about early retirement, the comments are filled with folks who say things like, “These people are cheap. I could never live like that. Besides, what if they drop dead tomorrow? Then what good is all of that money? YOLO!”

On the other hand, early retirement forums are filled with people who go to the opposite extreme. “OMG! I can’t believe you’re only expecting to live until age 90. What about modern medicine? What about gene therapy? What if you live to 108? Boy, then you’re going to be sorry you didn’t save more!”

Both sides make valid points.

If your assumptions about life expectancy are too optimistic, you risk not making the most of the money you’ve saved. If you budget as though you were going to live to 95 but end up dead by 65, you’ll have a lot of money that essentially goes to waste — money you might have used to do the things you’d always dreamed of doing.

If your assumptions about life expectancy are too pessimistic, you risk running out of money. If you make choices based on the idea that you’ll die at age 65, for example, but live until 95, you’ll end up broke. You’ll spend decades eating beans and rice.

Here’s the bottom line: If you knew when you were going to die, you could calculate how much money you’d need to get from now to then.

Pretend that next week Elon Musk announced he’d developed the Methuselah, a machine that can tell users the precise date and time of their death. It’s 100% accurate and somehow can even account for accidental death. When the Methuselah comes on the market, you try it just for kicks. It tells you that you’ll die on 06 November 2034. You have about seventeen years left to live.

Based on that information, you’d be able to calculate with great precision how much money you’d need in order to make it to your date of death. You’d know whether you need to continue working or could call it quits right now. You’d know whether you had enough saved to travel the world in luxury or if you needed to live a more meager existence.

Unfortunately — or fortunately, depending on your point of view — there isn’t a way to tell with any precision how much longer you have to live. Elon Musk hasn’t developed the Methuselah machine. (Yet.) All you can do is make an educated guess.

How to Determine Life Expectancy

One basic way to estimate your time remaining is to consult an actuarial life table. The U.S. Social Security Administration, for instance, has a basic period life table that shows how much time the average person has left to live based on their current age. A 48-year-old man like me can expect to live another 31.32 years — until I’m 79.

My cohorts and I each have a 0.4167% chance of dying this year. Of 100,000 of us born in 1969, 93,759 are still alive. [Read more…]

Thoughtful gift-giving takes time, especially if you are going to make the gift yourself. So here is a list for you, in plenty of time, so you can get started planning budget Christmas gifts this year.

Food gifts with wow-factor

For the most part, food gifts can be made individually or in batches if you want to give something small to a large number of people. Obviously, with food items, you should wait until much closer to Christmas to make them, but it’s a great idea to start looking for the other items you’ll need for these gifts like mason jars, baskets, and ribbon so you can buy them on sale.

Of course, if you want to get some practice in so you can perfect your gifts, it’s much better to start now anyway! Many of these gifts are great for other occasions too, by the way. Recipes for most of the food presents can be found on Pinterest and elsewhere, but here are some ideas to get your taste buds thinking.

1. Made-from-scratch cookie kits. Get the dry ingredients of your favorite cookie recipes together, along with some mason jars, note cards, and country-style ribbons. Layer all the dry ingredients in the mason jars and screw the lids on tightly, print the recipe on note cards using an old-fashioned kind of font, and tie them to the jars with ribbon.

2. Themed food-gift baskets. Will you can your own pasta sauce over the summer? Use a colander for a basket, add some garlic bulbs, gourmet noodles, and a wooden spoon — a little taste of Italy.

Make a breakfast basket (syrup and pancake mix), a movie basket (popcorn, candy, and a movie rental coupon), or a gardening basket (a trowel, a gardening hat, and some packets of seeds).

3. Homemade granola. Low-cost, basic ingredients turn into toasted goodness and don’t require a fancy kitchen to prepare. Granola blends can be customized easily to suit your taste by adding different ingredients like raisins, nuts, cinnamon, dried cranberries or cherries, sunflowers seeds, coconut, wheat germ, etc. Begin with a couple of mini-batches to fiddle with your recipe until you are satisfied with the result.

4. Homemade truffles. Like homemade granola, homemade truffles can be tweaked to your preferences. Chocolate raspberry or strawberries and cream are just two examples. And you can cover them with all sorts of deliciousness like crushed nuts, mints, or toffee bits. Upside? Yum! Downside? They should be made only a short time before giving, and eaten soon after.

5. Gingerbread houses. Give them to the little kids (and the big kids) in your life. You can find gingerbread house kits or, if you bake, you can certainly build a better house from scratch. Make it a party! Invite friends or family to join in the decorating and then donate some to a local senior center.

6. Homemade almond roca or other Christmas candies. Never heard of almond roca? How does a mixture of sugar, almonds, butter, and chocolate sound? That’s what I thought. If you don’t make almond roca, any other type of Christmas candy will be fine too!

7. Freezer meals. If you have someone on your Christmas list who is in a busy season of life (working two jobs, attending college, or adjusting to life with a new baby), they would appreciate freezer meals. Package up a few of your favorite casseroles, clearly labeled with cooking instructions, and you’ll have someone’s gratitude for life. For an extra-nice touch, package the meals in reusable containers.

8. Infused olive oils.An infused olive oil can add interesting undertones to dishes. Infuse them with spices, herbs, citrus, or nuts. These infused oils need to be stored in the refrigerator, so include storage instructions with the oils.

9. Infused Vinegars. Add another layer of complexity to dishes with infused vinegars. Infuse vinegar for two to four weeks with berries or herbs and package them in interesting bottles. Now is the time to look for inexpensive, beautiful bottles.

10. Other food ideas. If you have any food specialty (homemade bread, canned goods, or cookies, for example), most people would love it.

11. Gourmet salt assortment. Buy large containers of a variety of unique salts (you may have to visit a gourmet food store), and then divide the salts into small Ziploc bags. Be sure to label the bags to include a bit of info about each variety. (You can create similar gifts with other items, of course, tea leaves orâ€¦)

12. Spice sampler. Bulk spices can make an affordable and appreciated gift for anyone who loves to cook, or who is moving into a new kitchen. Don’t know which spices to choose? Find some tempting recipes that call for exotic spices, then include the recipes with the spices. Or, get creative and make a custom spice blend for a meat rub, marinade mix, salad dressing kit, dip, or seasoning.

13. Homemade vanilla. Homemade vanilla is simple to make, but it does take some time. Split three vanilla beans in half with a sharp knife, place in a clean glass jar, and then cover with vodka. Store the jar in a cool, dark place and don’t forget to shake it every so often. Although the vanilla extract is ready after six to eight weeks, you can continue the process for darker vanilla, if desired.

14. Food of the month. If you enjoy cooking or baking, how about giving someone a membership to your own “food of the month” club? (Never mind that they are your only member and you just made it up.) You can make a different kind of food each month or keep the same general theme (dessert, maybe?). This is a gift that will bring joy all year.

15. Flavored hot chocolate. Homemade hot chocolate is delicious and simple to make. For extra pizazz, add flavors like butterscotch, mint, or cinnamon, just to name a few.

16. Homemade marshmallows. For flavor so much better than you can buy, make homemade marshmallows for someone on your list!

17. Flavored sugars. For a special gift, make flavored sugars! Adding lemon or orange zest, a vanilla bean, or lavender to sugar can impart complex notes to baked goods. Package the sugar in cute jars, paired with a fun label.

18. Salted caramel sauce. Ah, salted caramel sauce. How can something with just four ingredients (cream, butter, sugar, and salt) be so good? And so versatile? (Eat it with a spoon, on ice cream, over cinnamon rolls, or with apples.)

This should be stored for just about two weeks in the refrigerator, so don’t make it too far ahead of Christmas or you might be tempted to eat it yourself!

19. Homemade eggnog. While homemade eggnog (if you like eggnog, that is) is absolutely delicious, it doesn’t keep long in the refrigerator — and not just because it tastes terrific. If you make this, prepare by getting your ingredients ahead of time, but don’t make it until the day of (or a day before) your gift exchange.

Frugal gifts with free/used/cheap stuff

Even though these ideas don’t cost a lot of money, they do require time and thought to implement something that is sure to make your recipient feel special.

20. Personal gift certificates. In essence, these are gifts of time, but they make great gifts. Give new parents a gift certificate for a night of babysitting so they can enjoy a night on the town. Are you good with computers? Give your brother-in-law a gift certificate for free computer repairs.

21. Love coupons. This gift is similar to coupon books or gift certificates but is targeted to your significant other. Let your recipient redeem a coupon for a dinner out, for a back rub, or for an evening together watching their favorite movie.

22. Helping hand. This is also similar to making a coupon book. If you notice your father-in-law’s landscaping is overgrown, offer to spend a Saturday as a gift. If your daughter’s closets are out of control, she might appreciate help with organizing too. Perhaps an aging family member needs your help sorting through household goods in preparation for an estate sale or moving into a care facility.

The wonderful thing about handmade gifts, no matter how frugal, is the thought that goes into the making. Katie O’Connor

23. Up-cycled old tins. Here is a fun way to breathe new life into last year’s Christmas cookie tin. Find some spray paint (leftover from another project, preferably) and spray over the old Christmas scene. This could be the packaging for other Christmas gifts mentioned here too.

24. Teach a skill. Do you have useful skills? Someone on your list may want access to your sewing or carpentry skills. Don’t overlook things like bike repair, baking, gardening, or your financial know-how. Sometimes we have a blind eye to our own assets. Ask a friend to tell you which of your skills may be in demand and then figure out how to offer this skill to others.

25. Finish a project. Who doesn’t have an unfinished craft project somewhere or a remodeling or gardening project that isn’t finished? These undone wonders are just waiting for someone with the time to finish them.

If you are a knitter, for instance, you could offer to complete that pair of mittens for a family member. Or maybe the weekend carpenter on your list got everything done on the remodeling project except for trimming out the windows. Your offer to help finish the project would help both of you!

26. Framed page from favorite children’s books. Are some of your favorite books from your childhood falling apart? Well-loved books, read hundreds of times, tend to fall into disrepair. But framing a page from a favorite childhood book can help the book (and the memories) live on.

27. Create a secret old book. Find a cheap, musty, old classic at your nearby Goodwill or used bookstore. Glue the pages together, and use an X-Acto knife to hollow out the center of the book. Now the recipient can store his or her treasures!

28. Holiday recipe booklet. Create a collection of your favorite holiday recipes, and then include it with a small assortment of samples.

29. Artwork display frame. Frames are often expensive, so look for out-dated paintings at thrift stores. Keep the frame; toss the painting. Any of your farmer friends might have some chicken wire to spare, so take the old frame and staple chicken wire to the back. Include a package of tiny clothespins with your gift so photos or artwork can be attached.

30. Personalized dishes. Another fun way to use an old white plate or tray is to make a customized platter/plate. Write words or draw patterns on the plate with colored Sharpies. Then, bake the plate at 250 degrees for about 20 minutes to make your artwork permanent.

31. Teacup candles! You’ll need craft-store wicks, wax (or old candles) that can be melted down, old teacups, and maybe a fragrance or two. Pretty single teacups (with or without saucers) can often be found at thrift stores for less than a dollar.

Melt the wax in a double boiler, add a fragrance if desired, then support the wick standing in the teacup while carefully filling the cup with wax. As the wax cools, it will contract and form a well. You can add more melted wax of the same color or add a second shade. Beware of cups with obvious cracking; the hot wax may cause them to shatter.

Arts and crafts — and a hodgepodge of Mod Podge

With even the most basic artistic skills, you can create budget Christmas gifts. Here is a list of possibilities to trigger your creativity.

32. Homemade hand warmer. Live in a cold climate? Give your friends the gift of warmth with a homemade hand warmer you personally made for them. If you know how to make a beanbag, you know how to make a hand warmer. Use wool, cashmere or felt material; but instead of filling the bags with beans, fill them with ceramic pie weights. To use these toasty treasures, simply microwave them for a couple of minutes and then slip them in your pockets.

33. Tote bag pocket inserts. For those with decent sewing skills, make a tote bag even more user-friendly by sewing an insertable pocket for tote bags. Attaching the pocket to the tote bag straps from the inside will hold the pocket in place while creating another area of storage in the bag.

34. Sweater bag or pillow. Breathe new life into an old sweater by turning it into a bag or a pillow!

35. Microwavable heating pad. Another simple sewing project? This makes a nice gift for an elderly person. Make a microwavable heating pad by sewing fabric into a rectangle. Fill with rice (and a few drops of essential oils if you have some).

36. Felted penguin or other animal. What could be cuter than a felted penguin or other animal? Various tutorials online give detailed instructions which require roving and a special felting needle. Who wouldn’t want a cute replica of their favorite pet, anyway?

37. Sewing kit. An old eyeglass case makes a great case to house a portable sewing kit. Add needles, spare buttons, thread, a pincushion, and scissors!

38. Scrap fabric garland. Here’s a use for old scraps of fabric. Take strips of fabric and fold them in half, cutting more strips. Just don’t cut all the way to the fold, because you would ruin the “streamer” effect. Tie the fabric onto a piece of twine or lace.

39. Pompom garland. Make pompoms out of yarn. Obviously, customize the size and color to your preferences. Once the pompoms are complete, you can thread them together with heavy thread and a needle. Or you can make different threads or strings of pompoms and hang them vertically. These make great gifts for anyone that needs to decorate on a budget.

40. Memory drawing. If you can draw, make a simple drawing of a memory you have that involves the recipient. Maybe it’s something you did together or places you visited together. Frame it and gift. The great thing about this (besides being cheap) is that you can give it multiple times to the same person. They will have a growing collection of memory drawings from you.

41. Personalized gifts of art. If you are an artist, create small paintings or other personalized gifts of art that you make. Do you dabble in photography? A framed print of your nephew might be the perfect gift for your sister-in-law.

42. Travel brochure. If you have graphic design skills, a travel brochure for a child in your life is a fun gift. Customize it by photoshopping the recipient onto cheap stock photos of world landmarks, such as the Great Wall, so it looks like he’s traveled the world.

45. Felt-backed tile trivets. You can find lots of beautiful tile designs at the home-improvement store. Sometimes the end of a lot can be had at a deep discount. Using a hot-glue gun, add a layer of felt to the back of a 6Ã—6â€³ (or larger) tile, and you have a useful trivet for bringing a hot dish to the table.

46. Personalized mirrors. Buy small mirrors. (Try Ikea for a bunch of the smallish, 8Ã—8 mirrors.) Once you have a word that describes your recipient (“Gorgeous!” “Intelligent!”), pick a font. If you have a cutting tool that will cut out the font, by all means, use it! But if you don’t, print out the words and trace them onto contact paper. Use some glass etching glaze to etch the words onto the mirrors. Add some cheap rhinestones to glitz up the mirrors for the girls or a masculine etched pattern for the boys. Finish them off by attaching ribbon and twine so that they can be hung easily.

47. Photo lampshade. Look for a lamp at garage sales and, once you find a really cheap one, you can make a neat memento by either hot-gluing pictures to the outside of the lampshade or printing pictures off onto vellum. Then glue the vellum onto the lampshade. (Vellum is not always easy to handle so be careful!)

48. Blue jean aprons. Don’t let your worn out jeans go to waste. Use the fabric to make aprons. Many tutorials can be found online in many different styles, and they are perfect for both children and adults.

49. Vintage lace bowl. Okay, maybe you don’t like the look of crocheted doilies draped across the back of an easy chair, so here’s another way to display these amazing old-fashioned beauties! Mix equal parts of white glue and water. Submerge a doily in the glue mixture, then mold the doily over a bowl, glass jar, or blown-up balloon. Smooth out the wrinkles, let it dry, and when you remove it — viola! — a DIY vintage lace bowl! If desired, you may also dye the doily before submerging it in the glue.

50. Personalized cards. You can make more than gifts. Making your own cards is a great money-saver. Buy boxes of 50 assorted bright-color cards from a craft store such as Michael’s. Use leftover paper scraps and stickers to decorate them.

51. Photo Cubes. Create your own photo cubes by buying large cubes and using Mod Podge to affix family photos on all sides.

52. Tile photo coasters. Cut pictures to a slightly smaller size than small white tiles. Use Mod Podge to adhere the photos to the tiles. Once you have used enough Mod Podge, spray tiles with a moisture-proof sealant. Glue felt to the bottom of the tiles.

53. Photo Accordion. These are great as coffee table books. Create a photo accordion by folding up cardstock like an accordion and gluing photos to the cardstock. If you have woodworking skills, you could hinge thin pieces of wood together and use Mod Podge to glue the pictures on the wood.

54. Marble magnets. You can pick up all of the supplies (flat-bottomed marbles, Mod Podge, and magnets) at your local craft store. Use patterned scrapbook paper or words from old dictionaries or pictures from magazines. Whatever you use, cut it to be slightly smaller than the marble, Mod Podge it on the bottom of the marble, and then hot glue the magnet to the bottom of the marble.

55. Rustic cork coasters. Save the corks from your favorite wine bottles and make rustic cork coasters. Find old small picture frames and glue the corks on them. Commemorate your special events this way too.

56. Cork bulletin board. Wine corks also make great bulletin boards. Find a frame that is deep enough to accommodate the corks and then decide on a pattern. Use a glue gun to glue the corks in place.

57. Homemade garden markers. For the gardener on your list, make homemade garden markers using anything from painted rocks to old spoons, wooden spoons, or even popsicle sticks! Give them blank or label the markers ahead of time.

58. Chalkboard paint spice jars. What an amazing invention chalkboard paint is! Paint the lids of glass baby food jars with chalkboard paint to make spice jars. You can write on each lid with a chalk marker or include a marker with a set of spice jars as part of your gift.

59. Chalkboard cheese tray. Another great use for chalkboard paint is to make a chalkboard cheese tray. Find an old tray at a thrift store and paint the bottom of it with chalkboard paint. When serving cheese, the recipient can write on the tray, labeling the different kinds of cheeses.

60. Chalkboard menu/message plate. Yet another use for chalkboard paint and one of those ubiquitous plates you find at thrift stores: Make a chalkboard plate for messages or to announce the menu of the day. Cover the plate with chalkboard paint and then write a message for each recipient.

61. Christmas stockings. Sew a Christmas stocking out of felt or vintage fabric. While sewing a Christmas stocking is slightly more complicated than making bean bags, it is still an easy project and might be treasured for years!

62. Travel cord roll. When traveling (or even at home), do the cords for your electronic devices get tangled up? Make a travel cord roll.

Sew pockets for different cords, or loops of elastic to hold the cords in place. Once the cords are in place, the fabric can be rolled up and neatly stowed away in the luggage.

63. Fabric bookmarks. Another use of fabric scraps is to make bookmarks. You can cut two pieces of fabric, along with interfacing. Fuse the interfacing to the fabric and then sew the two pieces of fabric together. Embellish it with a ribbon, if desired.

64. Fabric memo boards. The recipient of your gift can display their photographs on a fabric memo board that matches their decor. First, find an old canvas or thin piece of wood. Cover it with batting and fabric. Pulling the fabric taut, staple it to the back of the board. Arrange your ribbons in the desired pattern and staple again in the back. Buttons can be hot-glued where the ribbons cross.

65. Painted canning jars. These gifts are interesting to look at. Paint the jars with chalkboard paint, followed by 2-3 coats of acrylic paint. For a more transparent look, add food coloring to white glue and paint.

66. Practical hot pad. For a practical gift, hot glue small stones to a circular piece of felt. This hot pad can be used daily — and every time it’s used, they’ll think of you!

67. Scrabble ornaments. Make personalized ornaments out of ribbon and Scrabble letters. Spell Christmas-themed words or the recipient’s name with Scrabble letters and hot-glue them to a doubled ribbon.

68. Fabric camera strap cover. For the photographer in your life, a camera strap cover can make taking pictures much more comfortable if it’s made out of soft or fun fabric.

69. DIY reusable grocery bag. Used t-shirts or other used clothing can make a handy reusable grocery or gym bag. Search the Web for sites with sewing instructions, if needed.

Sentimental/family gifts that touch the heart

Gifts that celebrate family memories or honor a loved one who has passed away may not cost much to make, but they are truly priceless. Remember, just because it’s a budget Christmas gifts doesn’t mean it can’t be a very special gift!

70. Christmas-past scrapbook. Find an old, tattered book. Remove the pages, but keep the book cover (hard-cover only). Use rings to fill it with old Christmas cards or photos of family.

71. Write your family history. For a gift that is priceless (but costs very little), enlist your family members to write a family history. Pick a topic (family vacations?), and ask each family member to write about it. Ask the patriarch and matriarch of the family to contribute their life histories.

One person plays “editor,” collecting the stories, and presenting them all together for Christmas. This gift costs nothing, unless you choose to make fancy copies or books. It does take a little time if you want to contribute quality. It will, however, carry a lasting value unmatched by any tangible gifts or even experiential gifts!

72. Family trivia game. Make up a family trivia game with questions that help start conversations or help others remember special events with family members. The gift part of this? Deeper relationships, fun, and you could even hand out monetary prizes!

73. Memory Jar. For an extra thoughtful gift that costs almost nothing, create a memory jar. Start now by contacting friends and family members and asking them to send memories and old pictures of the person who will receive your memory jar. Write one memory (or printed one picture) on each of 365 business card sized pieces of cardstock. Fold each in half and secure with a bit of tape, then place them all in a big, decorated jar. Every morning for the next year, the recipient can take out a card, open it, and see what other people cherished in him or her.

74. Framed sentiments. For the word lover on your list, make framed dictionary words. Using a heart punch, cut words out of an old dictionary that describe your loved one (thoughtful, kind, spontaneous?) and frame the words.

75. Memory Pillows. Even if you have very basic sewing skills, you have the ability to make a memory pillow for someone on your list. If you have a loved one (or one of your friend’s has a loved one) who has recently passed away, get one of their old shirts and create a memory pillow out it.

76. Frame family recipes. Does your grandmother have a box of faded, old recipes that have been in the family for a few decades? For a sentimental gift, frame them and give them as gifts to other family members.

77. Personalized calendars. Family dates, such as, birthdays and anniversaries, are hard to keep track of, especially as families grow. You can make personalized calendars online by adding special dates and pictures of family members. Or you can buy calendar blanks or use a template from a program.

78. Family cookbook. This is a good gift for a big family. Get everyone together for a recipe day. You could even include some time to make the recipes! Then print and bind the recipes. (You can do this at an office supply store, for example, or use a 3-ring binder to easily add recipes later.)

Fun and thoughtful gifts by kids/for kids

79. Art binder. If you have children who love to draw or color pictures, you probably ran out of refrigerator real estate months ago. What about giving a child an old binder that you have decorated with special paper or stickers and filled with plastic page protectors? That way, they can save any artwork in one place.

80. Letter art. Buy the first letter of your child’s name at a craft store. Personalize it with fabric or paint it yourself, or let your children personalize letters for their siblings.

81. Fancy notebook. Take a regular composition notebook and glue special paper on the cover. Then add stickers, washi tape, and any other fun stuff you have that you like.

82. Help your child (or anyone) open an onlinesavings account. Planting a little bit of cash in a savings account now can yield a lot of fruit in the future — not to mention the ongoing opportunity to teach someone about the benefits of saving.

83. Photo storybook. Sites like Shutterfly and Snapfish often run good deals on their photo books. The child could take their own pictures, you could help upload them to the site, and they could write a few sentences per page. Presto! They have a book they can keep about a special vacation or memory! The gift could be paying for the photo storybook or the child can make the book to be given to someone else.

84. Felt food toy. Buy different colors of sheets of felt. Cut objects out of felt (lettuce, hamburger, bun, tomato slice, for instance) and let the child put them together to make a hamburger or a slice of pizza. Give these as gifts to young children that are learning about food preparation.

85. Homemade bubble mix. Kids are attracted to dirt: making mud pies, playing in sandboxes, and getting grass stains. And that’s all good. But when your washing machine needs a break, how about some clean homemade bubbles?

86. Homemade beanbags. These toys are easy to make. Get some scraps of cotton material, sew together, and fill with dried beans. Children enjoy selecting the fabric, filling the beanbags, and making up games to play with them.

87. Homemade playdoh. Combine 1 c. flour, 1 T. vegetable oil, 1 c. water, ½ c. salt, 2 t. cream of tartar in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly. When mixture forms into a ball, turn off the heat and knead with hands (when cool). If desired, add a few drops of food coloring. Store in an airtight container and let your children give them as gifts to their friends and younger siblings.

88. Homemade sidewalk chalk. This gift is easy to make. Mix 1 c. of Plaster of Paris to ¾ c. of water. Add in the desired amount of powdered tempera paint. If you have molds, use those to make fun shapes. If not, you can make your own molds out of toilet paper tubes, duct tape, and wax paper.

89. Muffin tin crayons. Did your child come home with lots of broken, paperless crayons when school was over for the summer? Before tossing them, use them to make muffin tin crayons. You can make these crayons all one color or camouflage. Just use your imagination! You can place them in a muffin tin and bake at 250 degrees for about 10-20 minutes, or until the top layer has melted.

90. Memory games. Make your own memory game cardboard boxes that you save (from cereal boxes, perhaps?) and glue paper on top. If you have some artistic ability, you can draw animals or food objects (just make sure there are two of each!) or you can search online for templates. Cut squares as large as you prefer. Color the pictures, if needed.

91. Geoboards. Have a child who needs to learn letters or shapes? Make them a geoboard! You can make this as fancy as you want to, but first, start off with a rectangle of scrap wood (or you can purchase this at a craft store). If you don’t feel like measuring out where each peg will go, you can put a piece of graph paper over the wood. Decide how close you want the pegs to be. Your pegs can be push pins or small nails (although nails could be painful) and you’ll hammer these in according to the pattern you have determined. Give these with a package of rubber bands for immediate play!

92. Toddler busy book. (Parents of toddlers may enjoy this gift more than the toddler.) A toddler busy book (or quiet book) is a book that you can customize with different activities. One method is using a 3-ring binder and heavy paper. On one page, you could glue objects of different textures (cotton balls, sandpaper, aluminum foil, etc.). A different page may have shapes made out of foam or felt glued to the page, with the same shapes NOT glued to the page. The child then has to match the loose shapes to the glued shapes. If you have sewing skills, you can sew a book out and use felt, Velcro, and other materials.

93. Sensory bin/basket. Creating a sensory bin/basket may be as simple as packaging up some rice or dried beans, along with the child’s own set of measuring cups or measuring spoons. But check out Pinterest for other ideas.

94. Bathtub crayons. Playing with anything in the bathtub is good fun because it washes away easily! To try these crayons for bath time: Mix 1 c. grated Ivory soap, ¼ c. warm water, and food coloring together until the mixture begins to stiffen. Then, knead until mixture resembles very thick dough. Spoon mixture into cookie cutters, then place the cookie cutters into the freezer for about 10 minutes. Pop the crayons out of the cookie cutters and allow to dry overnight.

95. Salt dough ornaments. To make salt dough ornaments, mix 2 c. flour and 1 c. salt. Add 1 c. water, a little bit at a time. Once all the water is added, knead up to 10 minutes, or until dough is smooth. Press your baby’s hand or foot into the dough (another suggestion is to take an impression of your first apartment key) or anything else that would be precious to your gift recipient. Before baking, make a hole in the ornament with which to hang it. Then, bake at 325 degrees for 30 minutes.

96. Dime store games. Create one of several dime-store games, such as, you could tightly connect a few wooden blocks and glue a picture on top. Use a utility knife to cut between the blocks. You have a puzzle!

And a partridge in a pear tree

Then, there are the budget Christmas gifts that just don’t fit in any of the other categories — but they just might be a good fit for someone on your list!

98. Ha-ha gifts. Make your own joke presents. Use your imagination, but here are a couple of ideas to get you started. Wrap up a pack of batteries and a note that says “Gift not included.” Glue two pieces of corn to a small piece of scrap wood with the words “two-piece chicken dinner.”

99. DIY-themed baskets (or bags). We mentioned food gift baskets already, but don’t overlook other types of gift baskets. Your child’s teacher may appreciate a gift basket full of paper supplies like napkins, cups, and plates for snacks and classroom parties. Another teacher idea is to give an office supply gift basket. A husband, father, son, or other family members might like a tool-themed gift basket. A wife, mother, daughter, sister, or aunt might appreciate a pajama-themed basket with soft slippers, romantic comedy, and an assortment of teas.

Having an incredible Christmas doesn’t mean a lot of stress or a lot of money — but you do need to plan ahead. I hope this resource will help make your December a bit more relaxed, a lot less expensive, and still meaningful too.

Do you make budget Christmas gifts? What’s your favorite gift to make and give? How early do you start in order to decrease your stress levels?

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